The Crooked Man

(notes (date 2025-07-09) (category literature) (status evergreen) (confidence certain) (importance 3) (tags poetry criticism nursery-rhymes))

Traditional nursery rhyme about a crooked man who walks a crooked mile and lives in a crooked house.

First Recorded: 1842, in The Nursery Rhymes of England by James Orchard Halliwell.

Original Version

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile; He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

Valak's Version (Conjuring II)

There was a crooked man... and he walked a crooked mile The crooked man stepped forth and... rang the crooked bell And thus his crooked soul... spiraled into a crooked hell Murdered his crooked family... and laughed a crooked laugh.